Nowadays, criminal gangs are often better armed than the police. They're easy to buy on the black market while President Jairo Bolsonaro has made it easier for civilians to legally buy weapons at a growing number of gun stores. Part of the problem is the widespread availability of guns. It came just two months after a similar police operation killed 24 people. Thursday's raid was one of Brazil's deadliest in the past 30 years. Security analysts have long accused the police of an ultra-violent shoot-first-ask-questions-later operating style. On Friday, government human rights workers were interviewing residents and trying to figure out exactly what happened. OTIS: Rather than arresting gang members, he claims, the police entered the neighborhood determined to kill them. Life here, he says, is like an undeclared war.īETINHO CASASNOVAS: (Speaking Portuguese). So now three black pickups filled with military police with automatic rifles are entering the neighborhood.īetinho Casasnovas, who is 32, runs a community newspaper in Alemao. OTIS: On Friday, Alemao, a collection of ramshackle houses, stores and outdoor markets, remained tense. OTIS: Sixteen suspected gang members, including eight with criminal records, were killed, as was a police officer and two bystanders. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Shouting in Spanish). OTIS: The resulting shootouts left thousands of residents trapped in their homes and in panic. On Thursday, 400 heavily armed military police stormed the neighborhood. Among other crimes, the gang is accused of robbing banks and stealing cars. JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: The police were targeting a criminal group that controls the Rio neighborhood of Alemao. And a warning - the sound of gunfire will be in the story. The latest shootout between police and criminal gangs left at least 19 people dead in Rio de Janeiro. In Brazil, rampant police violence has become a huge issue ahead of the October presidential election.
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